Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly understood just how important it was having an NCAA tournament subregional at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
"It's an audition," Fennelly said Friday.
It was an audition for the city and its newest sports venue to show it can host NCAA events. It passed the test, and now it's time for the NCAA to consider the city a serious contender for future women's — and men's — tournaments.
The only other time I had been in Wells Fargo for a college basketball game was two seasons ago, when Iowa State played host to Bradley. That day, it felt like a basketball game in a cold hockey arena.
Friday and Saturday, it felt like any other NCAA venue I've been at.
The city embraced the tournament, although Drake playing in the NCAA men's tournament Friday took away some of the early spotlight. Attendance, boosted by a pro-Iowa State contingent that made up 90 percent of the crowd Saturday afternoon, was respectable.
There was some hope before Selection Monday that Iowa would also be sent there to help ticket sales. But the Hawkeyes' loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals ended any hope of that. The NCAA selection committee was already no doubt a little queasy that second seed Rutgers would have to play the seventh-seeded Cyclones on a virtual home court (Iowa State was the host and by rule was placed in Des Moines when the Cyclones were accepted for an at-large bid).
From an operations standpoint, things also went smoothly. There were no ticket snafus and there was ample parking.
The question now becomes what sort of NCAA events can be drawn to Wells Fargo in the coming years.
The big prize would be an NCAA men's tournament — either a subregional or a regional. It's not far-fetched, considering the NCAA went away fron traditional sites this year and played the first two rounds in places like Omaha and North Little Rock, Ark.
The earliest the city could play host to the men's tournament would be 2011.
The smart move would be for one of the two likely host schools — Drake or Iowa State — to pair with its respective conference to make a bid as a host. Creighton did that with the Missouri Valley Conference this year in Omaha, and Drake could do the same. Iowa State could pair with the Big 12, but that conference is playing host to a subregional next year in Kansas City and one in 2010 in Oklahoma City.
It's unlikely there will be a women's subregional there in the future. The tournament is going back to a 16-site format for the first two rounds, primarily at on-campus sites. Iowa will play host to one next season, and Iowa State will play host to one at Hilton Coliseum in 2010. That doesn't mean, though, the city couldn't host a regional, which would be a major accomplishment.
The city would also like to make a run at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships — the next opening comes in 2012, and the tournament has always been successful at Midwestern venues.
As Des Moines tries to position itself as an NCAA hopeful, the state's two major D-I schools can help. Iowa State has played a nonconference game at Wells Fargo, and once Todd Lickliter gets his program established at Iowa, the Hawkeyes should do the same (suggestion — a neutral-court deal with Kansas or Kansas State, one game at Wells Fargo and one at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Or, how about Notre Dame, one in Des Moines and one at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis?).
Des Moines will face some stiff competition for those Midwest subregional and regional sites on the men's side. With the new Sprint Center in Kansas City, the Qwest Center in Omaha, and St. Louis' successful track record for hosting men's tournaments, it will be hard standing out.
But the city proved this weekend that it can host an NCAA tournament.